A Beautiful Mind

This is a true story about John Nash Jr, who unfortunately was discovered in his adult life as having a terrible illness, paranoid schizophrenia. The story begins in 1947, with John Nash as a student at Princeton. He tries to portray himself as being really smart, but right off you can tell there is something wrong with him, by the look in his eyes. He finally he comes up with a game theory. This theory is thought to be incredible and he is offered a job at M.I.T. He gets married and has a child. This is when his world is turned upside down. The rest of the movie focuses on John’s life in dealing with schizophrenia

Throughout this time the events are so very believable, that John is experiencing all these things, you then discover that most of it was in his mind. Thankfully with his wife’s help he is able to deal with this illness and come out okay in the end. He even wins the Noble Prize in 1994. The message I received was to try to understand the different kind of illnesses that are out there, and to be more understanding towards people when they are displaying what I would perceive as strange behavior.

The main source of this movie was from a biography written by Sylvia Nasar. This film can be categorized as a melodrama, as it has strong emotional scenes. It has action and the character triumphs in the end. It has a serious subject matter, but does end happily. This story defiantly has the seven characteristics of a Classical Hollywood Cinema. There is a story to be told and it’s about not only about John being a brilliant mathematician but also dealing with his Schizophrenia.

John uses subjective points of views (pov) to illustrate his visual and mathematical abilities to perceive patterns and interactions. In a scene where John arrives at Princeton to begin his studies, one of the patterns through his point-of-view shot was when John connects his vision of bright lemons, a punch bowl, and the pattern of a fellow student's tie. In this sequence and others in the film, John uses flashes of light in his pov shots to point out his recognition of significant patterns in the world around him, such as the magazines and newspapers lighting up when he thinks he has discovered a code. In another scene, John visits a top-secret government center to decipher a code captured from the Soviets. In addition to the flashes of light, this scene uses close-ups, composition, and images to express Nash's exceptional subjective perceptions:

This film focuses mainly on one character, John Nash, but also a few distinct characters, such as his wife, and his three imaginary people, Parcher, Herman and Marcie. William Parcher, head of the Department of Defense. Charles Herman his roommate at the University, later on in the movie, Charles niece, Marcie. All of which end up being figments of his imagination.

There are definitely numerous goals for the main character, John. In 1947, John attends Princeton University; his goal at this time is to come up with a great original mathematical theory. In 1953 his goal, he thinks is to help the United States find a bomb, supposedly being built by the Soviet Union. He also ends up getting married in this year as well.

1954 John is working at M.I.T. and this is when his schizophrenia is full blown. He thinks he is a spy working for the Department of Defense. 1956, his goal is to figure out, how to deal with his schizophrenia. In 1978 he ends up back at Princeton and convinces his old friend, Martin Henson to give him a job. His goal at this time is to get out in the real world and later on to be a teacher/Professor. In 1994 he ends up winning the Noble Prize for his game theory. The goal of his wife Alicia is obvious. She just wants her husband back no matter what. She gives up a lot of herself to help him through this illness. The goals of his imaginary friends change as well. First Charles is his friend and helps him deal with different situations in his life, then he becomes someone who hassles him into believing he is a spy too. I am not sure what goal or role Marcie has, unless she is suppose to be his inner child or just having someone else who will love him. Parcher’s goal is to get John to become a spy for the government. At the end of the movie he is angry with John for trying to ignore him and his goal is to get John to kill his wife and Child.

John defiantly has lots of obstacles and problems to confront. His first was when he was asked to play that board game with a schoolmate, Martin Henson. I feel he was asked by Martin to prove to the other men that John wasn’t as smart as he made out to be, plus to get back at John because, when he first met Martin he insulted him. He then tried to fit in with some friends by going to the bars with them. John had to come up with a theory quickly or risk not being appointed a position